The struggle over John Bolton's confirmation, the presence of Cuban Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in the United States, and a successful effort to lobby the US congress to end travel and trade restrictions against US citizens and businesses who wish to engage in normal commerce with Cuba

There's so much going on now related to Cuba that it's difficult to keep all of the pieces in focus. Bear with me, here are some of the main ones and I'm sure there are others which could just as well be included. We can perhaps say "a specter is haunting Washington", that of the Cuban Revolution, which is involved in or related to a massive array of events, issues and struggle which are all going on at this moment.

Yesterday, Wednesday May 27, 2005, was Cuba Action Day in Washington, D.C. An estimated seven hundred people joined to lobby US congress members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Those who weren't able to go to Washington were able to phone in, as I did, and speak to staffers at the offices of my Representative and both of my Senators. The activity, coordinated by the Latin American Working Group and others, and led by the tireless Mavis Anderson and Phillip Schmidt got decent press in at least a few places, like the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel. Mavis Anderson sent out a great report about the day's achievements. Read that here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/37403

A new coalition in favor of ending the travel and trade restrictions and moving toward normalized relations was announced, headed by Kirby Jones. We've sent out their news release. It's an important initiative which is being led by corporations who want to do more business with Cuba. From the Cuban side, Pedro Alvarez, the head of Alimport, the Cuban entity which is responsible for all foreign agricultural trade contracts was present via a telephone hookup. Read their news release here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/37282

On the opposite side, the rightist Cuban exiles have been working hard to shore up support for keeping the blockade. A group in Congress announced formation of a caucus devoted to this purpose. A motion was passed in the House, by a vote of 398-27 demanding that the European Union attack Cuba. While the EU's hostility toward Cuba has been clear in recent weeks, they may not appreciate being told what to do by the United States Congress so we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, comes of that. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/37346

The Wall Street Journal is on the rampage in favor of John Bolton as well. There are three separate articles about him today, including an editorial. The Los Angeles Times, hedging its bets I suppose, has an editorial attacking him and a column endorsing him, and the links to his positions and allegations about Cuba are a connecting thread.

The Bush administration, in its relentless campaign against Cuba, chose to intervene in Cuba Action Day in its own way, by issuing yet another attack in Cuba. This took the form of repeating the same allegations on Cuba and terrorism which we've been hearing from them for quite awhile, particularly from John Bolton. The main report issue is 137 pages long and includes the following few paragraphs:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ UNITED STATES STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM 2004 APRIL 2005

EXCERPTS ON Cuba from this massive report:

Cuba Throughout 2004, Cuba continued to actively oppose the US-led coalition prosecuting the global war on terrorism. Cuba continues to maintain at the UN and other fora that acts by legitimate national liberation movements cannot be defined as terrorism, and has sought to characterize as “legitimate national liberation movements” a number of groups that intentionally target innocent civilians to advance their political, religious, or social agendas. The Notably, 2004 was marked by progress in decreasing the threat from states that sponsor terrorism. Iraq’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was formally rescinded in October 2004. Libya and Sudan took significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism. Unfortunately, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and, in particular, Iran continue to embrace terrorism as an instrument of policy. Most worrisome is that these countries also have the capabilities to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and other destabilizing technologies that could fall into the hands of terrorists. Iran and Syria are of special concern for their direct, open, and prominent role in supporting Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups, for their unhelpful actions in Iraq, and Iran’s unwillingness to bring to justice senior al-Qa’ida members it detained in 2003. --------------------------------------------------------- Shortly before leaving office in September 2004, President Moscoso pardoned four foreigners arrested in 2000 and jailed for illegal possession of explosives. The Government of Cuba alleged that the suspects were plotting to kill Fidel Castro, who was attending the Ibero-American summit in Panama, and sought their extradition. Panama refused, on grounds that they would not be accorded a fair trial in Cuba. Upon their release, the Cuban Government suspended diplomatic relations with Panama. Relations were later restored. -------------------------------------------------------- State Sponsors of Terrorism Overview Iraq, as it transitioned to democracy, ceased to support terrorism and its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded in October 2004. Libya and Sudan took significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism in 2004. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria, however, continued to maintain their ties to terrorism. Although some countries in this latter group have taken steps to improve cooperation with global counterterrorism efforts in some areas, all have also continued the actions that led them to be designated as state sponsors. -------------------------------------------------------- Cuban Government claims, despite the absence of evidence, that it is a principal victim of terrorism sponsored by Cuban-Americans in the United States. The Cuban Government’s actions and public statements run contrary to the spirit of the UN conventions on terrorism that it has signed.

In 2004, Cuba continued to provide limited support to designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as well as safehaven for terrorists. The Cuban Government refuses to turn over suspected terrorists to countries that have charged them with terrorist acts, alleging that the receiving government would not provide a fair trial on charges that are “political.” Havana permitted various ETA members to reside in Cuba, despite a November 2003 public request from the Spanish Government to deny them sanctuary, and provided safehaven and some degree of support to members of the Colombian FARC and ELN guerilla groups.

Many of the over seventy fugitives from US justice that have taken refuge on the island are accused of committing violent acts in the Unites States that targeted innocents in order to advance political causes. They include Joanne Chesimard, who is wanted for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973. On a few rare occasions the Cuban government has transferred fugitives to the United States, although it maintains that fugitives would not receive a fair trial in the United States. FULL DOCUMENT HERE: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/45313.pdf +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-------------------------------------------------------- The State Department held a special press conference to announce this new terrorism report which included this:

In the report you say that Cuba, North Korea, and Syria have the capacity to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. And I wonder if you could elaborate on Cuba. How can Cuba -- I mean, in what way or --?

MR. ZELIKOW: If you expect me to walk into the minefield of discussing the Cuban biological weapons program, I'm going to disappoint you. (Laughter.) However --

MR. ZELIKOW: No. The Cuban Government has the capability to manufacture some weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Government has discussed what those capabilities are in other settings and I don't want to get into that here. The same is true for Syria and the other countries we named. What we're focusing on here principally is less what is the WMD capability of the states, is simply what is the role of those states in state sponsorship of terrorism. And then please look at that against the background of what we have already said publicly about the capabilities of those states in the WMD world. And then you can draw some inferences about whether that's disturbing or not. FULL: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/45279.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been traveling around in Latin America. She's been attacking Cuba in front of many different audiences, but we don't have any indication that there has been any positive response to what she's been saying by people like Lula. Indeed, Brazil's relationship with Cuba is getting closer with the news that the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras (they aren't privatizing such things in Brazil, Condi!) will be joining the Venezuelan PDVSA to engage in more oil explorations off Cuba's shores.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is visit Cuba again and today he met with Fidel to open the new offices of PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil company which will also be exploring for oil and working on refining capacity as well with Cuba. And these are in addition to a Venezuelan-Cuban trade fare which is in progress. If you haven't had the time to look at the important agreements which Fidel and Chavez signed when the Venezuelan president visited Cuba in December, you should. Cuba and Venezuela are moving closer and closer economically. The island has opened up opportunities for investment from Venezuela's private sector at strikingly favorable terms:

Thanks to our indefatigable translator Ana Portela we now have the text of the speeches given by Elian Gonzalez and his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at that at Cuban rally celebrating the 5th anniversary of Elian's rescue. Soon we'll have the rest of the speeches at that event. Fidel Castro attended but he was not one of the speakers. http://www.walterlippmann.com/elian-04-22-2005.html

We also have several other new translations to share with CubaNews readers, including articles on Liberation Theology and on the new and old popes by Frei Betto and Leonardo Boff.